SDNY COURTHOUSE,
August 15 – While
many even most
cases in the
Magistrates
Court of the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York are
sealed or have
no case number
given, back in
Julybefore
Magistrate
Judge Henry B. Pitman
things hit a
new level of
murkiness.
As
Inner City
Press reported,
a 69
year old man
was brought in
in shackles, shivering
and as it
turned out in
heroin
withdrawal.
But it was
unclear on
what authority he
had been
arrested.
Judge Pitman
asked as was told
that Probation
had conducted
a home visit
and found 35.9
grams of heroin
and had hauled
him in.

But it
also turned
out this his
roommate,
certainly an
equally
plausible
owner of the
heroin, was a
convicted
felon. Why
Probation
hadn't
realized that
in the one
year the
supervisee has
lived there
was unclear,
as was the
pronunciation
of his name.
Inner City
Press had to
guess: Bizari?
Nisari?
Pasari? There
was no case
numbers given,
no New
Presentments
that day,
nothing. We
said, We'll
have more on
this.

And now
we do. On
August 15
before
District Judge
William H.
Pauley, the
individual
appeared
again, with
the proposal
he be released
to a halfway
house or a
foster sister;
referenced was
made - sua
sponte by
Judge Pauley -
to his also
felon
roommate.
Later through
the wonders of
PACER in the
SDNY Press
Room we
learned the
defendant's
name: Gino
Vizzari. In a
variation on
Circuit Judge
Richard S.
Sullivan's
criticism of
the US
Attorney's
Office in the
run up to the
US v. Ernest
Murphy trial
Inner City
Press is
covering,
Judge Pauley
on August 15
questioned
Probation.

When
Gino Vizzari
tested
positive in
May, why
didn't they
test him in
June? There
was no clear
answer. Judge
Pauley asked
Vizzaro's
lawyer Deborah
A. Colson if
she was
arguing that
the 36 grams
of heroin were
for personal
use. She did
not say no,
leaving Judge
Pauley
exasperated,
saying
sometimes
lawyers have
to know when
to just sit
down.

Judge
Pauley said
that when
Vizzaro
appeared
before him
days after
Inner City
Press saw him
twitching in
the
Magistrates
Court, Vizzero
had locked
like a "train
wreck."

After a
break, the
Assistant US
Attorney
stopped
pushing for
the halfway
house. Judge
Pauley asked
about real
drug treatment
then set a
September 18
hearing. Come
ready with
your
witnesses, he
said. Outside,
the courhouse
was nearly
empty.

Footnote: at 4 pm on August 15 before
Judge Pauley, there was supposed to be a
status conference with Uriah Brown in the US
v. Felton case - but it seemed to not
happen. Inner City Press will stay on
these cases.

O

***

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